Ananya Ghosal, MAKAUT(WB)
The research published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution states that the bats which are feeding in organic plantation and natural forest habitat has more types of gut microbes than nectar-feeding bats found in a highly managed banana plantation in Costa Rica. The study presented the relation between sustainable agriculture, habitat alteration and gut microbiota. Conventional and organic banana monoculture plantations provide a dependable source of food for nectar-feeding bat species. Gut dysbiosis is a sign for the bats with the reduced variation of gut microbes for the bats found in the highly managed plantation, which is also an unhealthy imbalance of microbial symbiont. The bats found in the organic banana plantation has distinctive and varied gut microbiotas that are similar to their natural habitat.
Bacterial diversity is lowered by fast food
The studies show that gut dysbiosis is an imbalance of the community of the gut’s microbe. Gut dysbiosis is related to poor health and increased exposure to illness. In the case of humans, the diet of fast food can reduce the bacterial diversity present in the gut, which results in dysbiosis. To study the impact of thorough plantation comprises of large areas of exclusively banana plants to understand the same effect for sustainable agriculture. The faecal samples from the bats found feeding in natural habitats, intensive and organic banana plantations were examined to find the more common, presence, absence or related to specific habitat bacterial groups. By examining faecal samples bat’s body condition like weight and size can be measured. Plantation gives a reliable food source for bats found in organic as well as conventional banana plantations and they were heavier and larger than their forest complement.
Bacterial loss
There is a relation between the conditions of the bats and the composition of the gut microbiome. Gut bacteria are related to the bat with higher residual body mass which belongs to the natural forest, showing this microbe plays a major role in fat deposition. The bats found in banana plantations don’t need ta help of bacteria to store fat as they do not need to look for food and fly distances. Whereas, the bats found in the forest needs fat deposition as the food is dispersed in patches and it is seasonal. As the survival rate and bat fitness are not dependent on the agricultural landscape, so it is difficult to say if the homogeneous food supply transforms into positive fitness or not. The gut microbiota is influenced by multiple factors that are impossible to control like the seasonal shift in composition when the diet switches from dry to the rainy season and because of their sample size and design it exhibits seasonal variation in gut microbiota. Another factor that influences the result is a farming practice like the number of pesticides used and harvesting, although enough information is not available. Precisely, flower availability and pesticide measuring at the site of sampling helps in extracting the mechanism, resulting in simplified gut microbiotas in banana plantations. This study proposes that nectar-feeding bats can depend on a conventional banana plantation. Monoculture could have a negative outcome on the animals.
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Source:
Alpízar, Priscilla, et al. ‘Agricultural Fast Food: Bats Feeding in Banana Monocultures Are Heavier but Have Less Diverse Gut Microbiota’. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 9, 2021, p. 608. Frontiers, https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.746783.
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